Man arrested in connection with sexual assaults

Atlanta police said Friday they arrested a man in connection with an investigation of a string of sexual assaults in the Midtown, Buckhead and Vinings areas, but they have not charged him with any of the crimes.

Police refused to release the man’s name on Friday “for investigative purposes,” police spokesman Eric Schwartz said.

The man is in custody on unrelated warrants, and the car that was linked to an attempted abduction of a woman early Thursday also has been recovered, Schwartz said.

Schwartz said he did not know any details of the arrest.

Police went public with a few select details of Thursday’s crime and alluded to a string of attacks, but they have otherwise declined to discuss the attacks when asked by the Atlanta Journal-Constitution in recent weeks.

Thursday’s incident was the fourth attack, rape or sexual assault believed to be committed by the same person since August — most or all of them at gated apartment complexes, according to police reports obtained through an Open Records Act request.

The attacks happened a couple months apart and got gradually bolder. The suspect appeared to be careful to avoid leaving evidence behind, wearing gloves and condoms in some of the incidents, according to reports.

In the first one, on Aug. 18 at 3:30 a.m., the man accosted a 21-year-old woman walking to her apartment in a Buckhead complex on 26th Street.

As she opened a stairwell door, the man came from behind, wrapped a towel around her head and pushed a gun in her back, according to a police report.

He walked her to a pool area, forced her to get into a fountain and remove her pants before fondling her, the report said.

The next incident occurred at 3:30 a.m. on Oct. 27 on Armour Drive, also in Buckhead. That time, the man wore a “Jason” mask, a reference to the “Friday the 13th” horror movies.

He jumped from behind a vehicle and put a gun to the face of a 40-year-old woman, according to a police report. He struck her several times in the head with the gun and forced her to the end of a hallway, the report said, where he put a sock in her mouth and duct-taped her hands together. He fondled and raped the woman, the report said.

The third incident occurred at 9 a.m. on Dec. 30, at an apartment complex in the 4400 block of Northside Parkway, in the Vinings area.

A 24-year-old woman on her way to work was accosted from behind by a man who forced her into her garage, according to a police report. He put duct tape over the woman’s mouth, put a pillow over her head and raped her, the report said.

Police have not released any details about Thursday’s crime, other than that it occurred in the 900 block of Canterbury Road.